Word Origin & History

c.1200, dosk "obscure, to become dark," perhaps from Old English dox "dark-haired, dark from the absence of light" (cognate with Swedish duska "be misty," Latin fuscus "dark," Sanskrit dhusarah "dust-colored;" also cf. Old English dosan "chestnut-brown," Old High German tusin "pale yellow") with transposition of -k- and -s-, perhaps via a Northumbrian variant (cf. colloquial ax for ask). But OED notes that "few of our words in -sk are of OE origin." A color word originally; the sense of "twilight" is recorded from 1620s.

Example Sentences for dusk

He could not see her face, but he could hear perfectly the words that came through the dusk.

At dusk, Littlefield lighted a fire, and began to cook his fowls.

In the dusk of the wooded shades behind him huddled the group of slaves.

Dick said nothing, but despite the dusk Woodville read the truth in his eyes.

The rain and dusk were so heavy that they could not see fifty feet, and they shivered with cold.

A figure approaching in the dusk greeted Dick with a shout of delight.

But as dusk came gradually in the ravine he resolved that he would go.

A tall youth emerged from the dusk and looked at them inquiringly.

The dusk sifted in about the house, faster and faster; a whippoorwill cried from the woods.

Lorenzi and the Marchesa were strolling in the dusk across the greensward.